"The true measure of a person, school or community is how they treat someone less fortunate or those who can do them no good."

As a school we are extremely grateful to everybody who has helped us with our homeless appeal. What started as an idea from one of our parents has grown to a much bigger and better campaign than we could ever have imagined . We have been inundated with clothes, food , toiletries , money and vouchers. Thank you to 2A2, Ali Mc Cormack and Pippa Maloney for driving the campaign and for the parents, staff, students and community members who got involved with it. It became a massive community effort from the people of Rathangan and beyond . Thank you for making such a difference. We will have our final collection tomorrow (Saturday) from 12-3. Well done everyone. We include a report from our school journalist Shane Daly.

Helping the Homeless By Shane Daly

The blue bags for the Blue Bag Appeal were collected for the second time today. I was lucky enough to be able to sit down and interview one of the ladies from the Parents’ Association helping with the Appeal. She told me all about the Appeal, the class involved, the idea, who helped out and what they hope to achieve.

The Blue Bag Appeal is an initiative set up by 2A2 in Ardscoil Rathangan to help the homeless for Christmas. This was decided after a discussion by the school of what to do to help people for Christmas.

All students in the school were given a blue bag to fill with toiletries, food, clothes and other helpful items. Many of the students were generous and very helpful. The students were put into different groups, all with an important role to play.

The initiative was presented to the public, and received an amazing response. Many people gave in bags full of essentials, helping Rathangan stay well on track to their goal - 1000 bags by Saturday.

The School and Community would like to say a massive thank you to all who helped out, including the Tennis Club, Ryan’s Pharmacy, Monasterevin Motors, The Burrow, Chuckles Creche, The Bellyard Monasterevin, Father O’Byrne, Kevin Collins and Emma Conlon. Without these, the initiative would not have been successful as it has been. The students, their parents and the public also all deserve a huge thank you for their amazing generosity.